‘Recycling is the new rock and roll’
…Simon Lee had us at the slogan. Handcrafting guitars from yoghurt pots, coffee cups and off-cuts from industrial pipes, his idea is that top-quality guitars needn’t cost the rainforest. One model uses crushed pirate CDs, suspended in the translucent blue of office water cooler bottles. Another, which recycles all sorts of household packaging, apparently begins life with a still-soapy smell. His latest creation is a vegetable crate guitar, modelled off the hillbilly cigar-box guitars in the US. ‘All these materials can be recycled effectively,’ Simon tells us, ‘without having to resort to ripping trees out of rainforests.’
‘Historically, there’s a mystique and mythology abut these exotic timbers that were used for guitars, because they were used 50 years ago when nobody gave a second thought about it. Unfortunately those timbers are still sought after, but there are certainly other ways of making guitars that are equally good. With wood you’re taking a bit of potluck, because some woods have got knots or shakes or flaws or just things that would affect the sound quality. But this plastic is very dense, so you use less of it, and it’s uniform in its structure, so it’s much more reflective. Sustain is one of these holy grails of guitar players, and this stuff delivers it really well, part because of the way I build them, and part because of the materials.’
Despite impressive reviews from musicians and industry professionals – ‘Generally it gives a brighter sound with more sustain, that’s what people say’ – Simon tells us it’s been a tough market to break into since setting up in 2004. ‘A lot of young players would like to own one but can’t afford to, and lots of older players are after the classic instruments that were made 50 years ago, they’re kind of collectible because of the name. It’s a kind of safe thing; if you want to spend a lot of money you’ll buy a Gibson or a Fender, because that’s a name that you know that’s got history to it. But there are people who’ve got green credentials who get the whole idea and are very impressed with what they get.
‘I don’t have an aggressive marketing campaign, I can’t afford to do that, so people tend to find me. And when they find me they’re interested in what I’m doing. And I’m always keen to talk to artists who are on the same kind of wavelength as me, if they want to borrow one for a festival or something. Tom from Reverend and the Makers borrowed one of my guitars for Glastonbury, and he was really chuffed with it. There’s another one out with a well-known 70s band. It ticks over slowly, and I think slow is good in some ways.’ We couldn’t agree more.
Interview by Hayley Cull
